The Sting`s home opener against St. Louis...

Linda Kay & Mike ConklinCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The Sting`s home opener against St. Louis Friday is part of a three-hour soccer special on WGN radio, and we imagine broadcaster Roy Leonard has to be sweating. He`s planning a feature on the 10 different languages native to this year`s squad and will air a short message by each of 10 foreign players during the broadcast. Listeners can win prizes by identifying the language being used, but that may be the easy part. Callers also have to know the identity of the player.

Make room for Gordie

The jury`s out on whether Heisman Trophy candidate Gordon Lockbaum is NFL material, but there`s plenty of room for the two-way Holy Cross star in the Arena Football League. ''He could be our Red Grange,'' says Arena Commissioner Jim Foster. ''He`s what our league is all about, versatile athletes who play both defense and offense.'' Foster even has a spot for Lockbaum-Providence, R.I.-which is high on the AFL`s list of future franchise sites. . . . The biggest obstacle to getting Lockbaum is the league`s tight salary structure, which, with incentives, tops out at $40,000 for a season. Foster predicts that Gordie will go for big NFL bucks before ending up in the AFL. Adds the Commish: ''It`s a long shot, but I would not rule out the possibility that Doug Flutie could end up in our league some day, too.'' Foster, meanwhile, is looking for a new head coach to replace Ray Jauch of the Chicago franchise. Jauch will become AFL`s No. 2 man as operations director.

Only your friends know

He has struggled unsuccessfully to regain top form, and no less an expert than Ivan Lendl suggested recently that John McEnroe take some drastic measures or else quietly fade away. Now we hear Mighty Mac has gone out and found a new coach. He didn`t have to look far. Mac tapped his doubles partner Peter Fleming. ''Who knows you better than your best friend?'' our source said. ''I think the people you`re closest to are best able to help.'' That remains to be seen, but Fleming is regarded as one of the most intelligent players on the tour. He`ll travel with Mac, practice with him and probably play some singles matches himself. But according to our source, now that Peter is calling the shots, he and Mac aren`t likely to play doubles anymore.

Whatever happened to . . .

. . . Andrea Jaeger? The former Lincolnshire resident and onetime tennis hotshot had shoulder surgery this summer and is under orders not to pick up a racket for six months to a year. Jaeger has been plagued by arm trouble ever since tennis was a demonstration sport in the Olympic Games in 1984 and she was forced to withdraw from the competition. ''The surgery was successful,''

her mother, Ilse, told us from her home in Florida. ''They finally found out what`s wrong. She had a tear under her rotator cuff that never showed up on the X-rays.''

Big 10 notes

One thing to keep in mind about the vacant Ohio State football coaching job. Earle Bruce`s annual base pay was $87,000-low for that kind of high-pressure, high-profile position-but his outside income was well into six figures. That brings up an interesting question: In buying out the final year of Bruce`s contract, will the school compensate him for the loss of those extra bucks?. . . . Freedom Bowl officials in Anaheim hit the roof when they heard Iowa was going to the Holiday Bowl. They felt they had a commitment from the Hawkeyes. But even if they did, maybe you can`t blame Iowa. Hawkeye AD Bump Elliott had big problems getting paid after the school played in the Freedom Bowl in 1984, which, by the way, was said to have been a financial bust.

News, notes and nonsense

Bears President Michael McCaskey speaks Friday at the Chicago Small Business Expo luncheon in the Hilton & Towers. McCaskey plans to compare running the Bears to operating a small business. If any of the businessmen in attendance have firms that specialize in pass-rushing and blitzes, they may be asked to leave their cards. . . . He`s not flashy, but Bulls guard John Paxson has his own video. Entitled ''Basic Basketball Skills and Personal Values,''

it`s set for release next week. . . . Pro biking star Tom Schuler of the 7-Eleven team conducts an all-day clinic Saturday morning at 9 in Sauk Village`s Old Community Center. . . . Speaking of cycling, it was bigger than ever in Chicago this year and will grow bigger yet. Citicorp Savings is almost certain to sponsor a second three-city series in 1988-it is to be hoped with better dates than the opening weekend of the Bears` season. Meanwhile, Nabisco is expected to return with a Chicago stop in its Mayor`s Cup circuit, and now comes word that Subaru is thinking of a race here. . . . T-shirts autographed by Jim McMahon, William Perry, Michael Jordan, Troy Murray and other sports stars go on sale to benefit the Gateway Foundation`s drug abuse programs Friday night at a party hosted by Designs By You on West Diversey. . . . NFL Films sends a crew next week to Alaska, the only state in the Union where it has not yet tread. Will the crew catch up with a famous former football player? No, they`ll document the life and times of dogsled racer Libby Riddles on special assignment for Sports Illustrated magazine.

And finally: Oilers General Manager Ladd Herzeg called NBC Sports this week demanding that the network change the broadcasters calling the Houston-Cleveland game Sunday. They are Jim Donovan, sports director of the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, and Reggie Rucker, a former wide receiver who once played for the Browns, and Herzeg felt the odds in the booth were too much in his opponents` favor. NBC rejected the request.